


Sing Me To Sleep

by PagetPaulson



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-03
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-19 16:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 8,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2395022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PagetPaulson/pseuds/PagetPaulson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Jealous girlfriends don't make for the ideal high school romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Scanning the locker room and the boys around him, Aaron Hotchner made sure no one was looking as he took the rosary from his locker and threw it into the trashcan. He had already been made fun of and harassed by his friends when he broke it off with his clingy girlfriend Haley that he didn't need them finding out he was getting rid of the religious gift she had given them on their second anniversary.

"Hey Aaron! Good luck in the game!"

Aaron turned and smiled to the nerdy teen waving at him from the end of the aisle. "You too, Marty."

"We're gonna do great!"

Itching his brow, the older teen shook his head. "Marty, remember your cup? Inside of your shorts."

Marty glanced down to the football uniform he had put on and his covered eyes widened. "Oh," he nodded, looking to the other guy through the lenses of his glasses. "Thanks Aaron."

Derek made his way over to his friend and slapped him on the back, handing the helmet to the quarterback. "Still lookin' out for Sanders, man?"

"He has no other friends and he's a nice kid," Aaron shrugged, not wanting to deal with his friend's antics before the first big game of the season. "You almost ready to head out?"

"Yeah, just as soon as coach comes in and talks to us. How you feelin', man?"

The brunette teen rolled his eyes at the question, knowing that the other high schooler was poking at the fact that he was newly single. "I'm fine."

Derek laughed. "You should be. Have you noticed all those girls throwing themselves at you since you and Haley broke up last week? I think I should be jealous, seeing as how I never get that many honeys in the course of a full year."

"It's nice I guess, but I don't want all those girls."

"You want true love," the darker teen drawled, rolling his eyes at the words that his friend had been using for the past few days. "Not just a high school romance, but something that can go on into your future. You don't seem to understand high school, man. These relationships aren't supposed to last like that."

Aaron shut his locker and took a gulp from his water bottle. "I think differently." He gathered with the other football players as the coach came into the locker room to give them their pre-game speech, and his mind slowly began drifting. Without his girlfriend, he was a prime target for those teenage girls that the school called vultures; they'd pick at each single boy, especially the popular ones, as if they were a piece of prime meat, and Aaron was back in their view.

It wasn't that he didn't love Haley, but he'd had enough of her becoming jealous every time a girl would look at him or offer him a drink at a party and her trying her best to keep track of him every second of the day when they weren't together. Being in a relationship meant that there shouldn't be secrets, but she had taken it too far by tracking his phone and even reading his text messages when he left the room.

"Aaron? Last words?"

The teen looked up from the helmet in his hand and nodded, smiling his best to the members of his team. "This is a team we've beaten before and we can beat them again, alright? Let's do this." He put his hand in with the rest and shouted their team's name, running out with everyone else to get out onto the football field.

"And here they are! Home game team, the Falcons!"

Once all the players were out on the football field after welcoming their rival team, fourteen points were earned for them right off the bat, and after twenty minutes, the existing players on the field were taken out for a quick water break.

"Hey man, there's your girl," a random teenager chuckled from behind him, gesturing to the cheerleaders with his water bottle in hand.

Aaron sighed, looking away from the girl in the cheerleading uniform who was trying to gain his attention. Just five minutes without her was all he was asking for.

He cursed, knocking into an oncoming body who was trying to hurry past him. "Geez I'm sorry," he rushed out, picking up the snacks of hers that he had accidentally thrown onto the floor when he bumped into her. "Are you ok?"

"Hey!" Timothy Mathers, the linebacker of their school team, practically sprinted up to the pair and put an arm in between them. "You trying to sabotage our star player? Back the fuck off."

Aaron pushed the other player off of him and shook his head. "Leave her alone, man. It was an accident." Waiting until the other member walked away, the teenager looked down to the girl he had almost tripped over. "I'm sorry about that, he gets really worked up during games. You ok?"

The brunette girl gave a nod, noticing the way the older boy was looking at her. "I'm fine. Sorry for crashing into you, I couldn't get back to the bleachers through the back."

"I'm Aaron," he spoke quickly, not wanting the beautiful teen to leave without introducing himself. "If I crushed your food, come find me later and I'll give you a refund."

Choking down a laugh, the younger brunette nodded her head to him. "Emily, and no worries. We wouldn't want your girlfriend over there getting the wrong impression," she snorted sardonically, backing away from the football player. "See you."

Aaron shot a glance over to the cheerleaders and noticed the blond glaring at him, and he shook his head. He couldn't even speak to another person without her flipping out and they weren't even together anymore.

He looked up to the bleachers and quickly found the cute girl he had spoken to, watching her split the bag of pretzels she had bought with a few other people on the same bench.

She was beautiful.


	2. Chapter 2

"Man! Get this damn girl off my phone!"

Aaron grabbed the cell phone from his friend's hand and took it off speaker. "Haley stop calling everyone, ok? I'm not answering you for a reason."

The blond on the other end ignored the looks from her friends and put on a smile. "I just wanted to know if you were feeling better," she tried to state sincerely, knowing her ex would hang up on her if she didn't put her best foot forward. "I know you left early yesterday."

"Oh." The football player had left their celebratory game the night before after someone spiking the punch and him and throwing up. "Thanks."

"So what are you doing Saturday before the game? I know the cheerleaders are taking their boys out and I thought we could go with them."

Aaron rubbed his fingers over the creases in his forehead, shaking his head. "No Haley, I have a family dinner. Thanks though." He quickly hung up the phone and handed it back to his friend. "Sorry."

"Your girl is crazy, man," Derek sighed, throwing his phone into his bag. "When is she gonna get it?"

"I think I need to be in disguise around her."

Derek laughed. "Maybe some plastic surgery will do it."

"Or witness protection," a husky voice answered from behind.

The quarterback turned at the voice, smiling to the familiar girl who stood there. "Emily, hey."

"Hi," she smiled. "Do you mind moving? You're in front of my locker."

Aaron practically flew out of the way and bumped into his friend, minding the space of the brunette girl. "So you're a sophomore, huh?" They were on the east side of the building where only sophomores had their lockers."

"Yup. And you're a junior." Emily took her textbook from the locker and shut the door, nodding to the older boy. "Thanks for moving. I'll see you later."

Not wanting the beautiful girl to get away from him, Aaron quickly abandoned his friend and found himself walking beside her. "So what do you have this period?" He noticed her flicking a curl away from her eyes that had fallen from her ponytail and smiled.

The fifteen year old girl shook her head, knowing that the older boy was trying to talk to her any way he could. "Physics."

"Really? That's a senior class."

Emily smirked. "I've moved up in some classes. The teachers thought I was bored with all the other work since I knew everything and switched me out."

"So you're pretty smart," the older brunette grinned, opening up the door for Emily and letting her walk up the stairs before him. "Why don't you just move up a grade if you're in senior classes?"

The fifteen year old let out a cough and shrugged her shoulders, letting Aaron kick a bag of snacks that sat on the stairs out of her way so she didn't trip over it. "It was offered to me but I wanted to stay with my friends. And it's not like what I want to do is going to be any different after two extra years."

"What do you want to do?"

"I'm into psychology," Emily smiled, noticing the glint of happiness in the older boy's eyes. "You too?"

Aaron frantically nodded his head. "Definitely. I'm going to go to college for developmental psychology."

"Your own practice?"

The football player refrained from setting his hand to the fifteen year old's back once they made their way into the next hallway, students pushing through them and getting in their way. "I'd prefer to be in a high school or elementary school."

Emily's lips pursed at the thought. "Interesting."

Once at the right classroom, Aaron tried to get closer to the beautiful girl so she could hear him over the rowdy teens crowding around them. "So are you busy on Friday?"

"My parents have a gala I have to go to, but after nine I'm free."

"A gala," Aaron nodded. He had forgotten her parents were both dignitaries, her father also an ex Navy Seal. "Well there's a new movie coming out, a horror film that none of my friends want to go to. Would you wanna check it out?"

Emily bit down into her bottom lip, holding her textbook tight to her chest. "On a date?"

"No, no! Nothing like that, just a hang out." If he had told her that he wanted to take her out on a date when they didn't even know each other, the fifteen year old was sure to run from him.

"Yeah, ok," she grinned, backing into the classroom. "I'll find you later and we'll talk."

Aaron beamed at the younger girl. "Great."

Walking to the back of the classroom where she shared a lab table with one of her best friends, Emily laughed, noticing the blonde's jaw dropped to the surface of the table. "You ok?"

Penelope gave a hard slap to her friend's arm. "You just got asked out and you're not freaking out? What's wrong with you?"

Emily's eyes widened, noting the other students in the room looking their way. "Quiet down," she hissed. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Emmy, he's such a cutie! How is this not a big deal?"

Gesturing over to the glaring blond in the front of the room, Emily sighed. "His ex is why. She's been clinging onto him ever since the seventh grade. Do you really think she'll let me have him? We can be friends, but that's it."

Penelope frowned, obviously deflated. "That's it?"

The fifteen year old nodded definitively. "That's it."


	3. Chapter 3

Picking up her last book from the bottom of her desk, Emily made her way out of the last class she had for that day and walked swiftly through the school to get back to her locker. She had thought about the boy who had asked her out all day and even wasted her lunch time by forgetting to eat when her thoughts got away from her.

She rounded down the stairs to the first floor of the school and yanked at the doors that locked up the stairwell and frowned. They were locked.

Pulling harder, Emily's forehead scrunched in confusion.

"Need some help?"

The brunette turned at the new voice and met the eyes of the cheerleader standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Hi," she sighed. "Haley, right?"

"Right," the blue eyed girl grinned. "You seem to be having some trouble there."

Emily shook her head. "Nope." She didn't even chance another look at the older girl before walking out into the sun through the door underneath the stairwell, not wanting to get into anything with a girl she knew could ruin her life at the best school she had attended.

Looking up once she got back inside and just near her locker, her dark eyes brightened. "Hey. You stalking me now?"

Aaron laughed at the joke, seeing the smile on the younger girl's face as she opened up her locker. "I just wanted to make sure to get your number before we went out," he stated cheerfully. "Kind of helps."

Emily shared a smile with the older boy. "Maybe we should see how the week goes first," the teen nodded, not wanting to mention the blond that was glaring at them from the other side of the hallway.

"You changed your mind?"

Hearing the obvious disappointment in the junior's voice, the privileged girl quickly shook her head. "No, I want to," she tried to assure him. "But people are starting to change my mind."

Aaron frowned. "People?" He turned to look back to where the beautiful girl gestured to and he immediately let out a sigh. "Please just ignore her."

"She's in most of my classes," the brunette laughed. "Unless we're both headed into witness protection, I have to deal with her and those looks she calls scowls."

"I'm sorry."

Emily bit her lip, shaking her head at the older boy and shutting her locker door. "It's whatever. I'll see you around, ok?"

The junior felt like throwing his hands in the air when Emily walked away from him, his eyes hard on her body as he watched her sway her hips. Who had that much hatred in them that they'd push someone away from him?

"So I see you're free," came a voice from behind.

Aaron slammed his hand into the locker beside Emily's and spun around, glowering down to the blond before him with his chestnut eyes. "Stay the fuck away from me," he growled, leaving her standing there as he went to find the fifteen year old.

He ran down the corridor and burst through the entrance doors, standing on the steps and looking out to the cars and busses that were waiting to take the students home. Spending not even a minute looking for the right girl, his eyes found her, the fifteen year old setting down her backpack to slip on her leather jacket. "Emily!"

She looked up at the voice and quickly shook her head, not wanting to spend time talking to a boy she couldn't have. "I have to go, Aaron."

"Let me drive you home," he rushed out, seeing a man in a suit open the back door for the fifteen year old.

Emily gripped the ends of her sleeves with her manicured nails, her teeth nibbling into her bottom lip. "I don't know." She was hesitant, noticing the cheerleader standing with a group of people up at the school's entry. "I already have a ride."

Aaron stepped closer to the younger girl, doing his best not to reach forward and take her hand because he knew that would immediately send her running, and shook his head. "I can take you home and we can talk about Friday," he smiled. "Please?" He didn't want her to get away.


	4. Chapter 4

Emily pursed her lips as she sat quietly in the passenger seat of the older boy's truck, her fingers picking at the invisible lint on her skinny jeans. "You have a nice car," she finally spoke up, smiling to the teen in the driver's seat. "It drives nicely."

"Thanks," he grinned. "My uncle owns five dealerships in New York City and he shipped it down to me for my birthday two months ago. What about you? You have a car?" Noticing the surprise on the ivory girl's face, Aaron felt like reaching up and slapping himself. "Right, you're only fifteen." Idiot question.

The younger brunette slowly shook her head. "Well I do have one."

Aaron's brow hit his hairline. "Really?"

Emily suckled on her bottom lip. "Two."

"You have two cars?"

Emily felt her lips turn up at the astonishment she heard in the junior's voice. "Yeah, my parents got me a Mercedes and my Grandpa got me a Range Rover. Both arrived at the house last Christmas on flatbeds and I practically fainted," she chuckled.

The sixteen year old grinned at the blush on his new friend's cheeks. "Don't be embarrassed."

"Oh I'm not, they're nice cars," Emily laughed. "I just like to work for my things instead of them being given to me."

Aaron gave a nod, turning onto the street that Emily pointed out, trying his best to follow her directions to a part of town that he had never even seen before. "Understandable."

Sighing, fighting with herself over the words that wanted to pop out of her mouth, the teenager played with the curls that fell from her ponytail. "So why did you ask me out?" She saw his eyes automatically widen at the question, and she quickly shook her head. "You know, on the hang out, not really a date, date."

Aaron's fingers tightened around the truck's steering wheel as he tried to moisten his dry mouth. "Well, I thought you looked like a cool person to hang out with."

"You saw me, and thought I'd be cool to hang out with?"

"Yeah," he whispered, mentally slapping himself for speaking without fully thinking first off. "Yup, that's it."

Emily smirked, looking out the windshield and watching as the colored leaves fall onto the car. "You asked me out because you thought I looked good," she chuckled darkly, her stomach hurting as she laughed when the older boy looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't act like it's not true!"

"I'm not, but that was kind of forward," he smiled, loving the sight of her smile brightening with each passing second.

"Well thank you," the fifteen year old nodded politely, her smile dulling down to a cautious smirk with her two front teeth digging into her bottom lip. "No one really takes interest in me other than those losers trying to get at my money."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Assholes like that are what make me mad. Why would you use somebody and hurt them like that?"

Emily's eyes stung with tears at the admission, pointing to the next street that they had to turn onto for him to get her home. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You don't need to thank me," he grinned, wanting to reach over and hold what looked like the softest hand.

"No, I do," the fifteen year old laughed, reaching up to wipe the tears that had somehow started falling from her eyes. "No one, not even my parents, seem to understand how it feels to have people use you like that. Even in their line of work, they act as if comforting their daughter is the worst thing they could do." She looked down to her fidgeting hands and let out a sigh. "It's complete bullshit."

Taking a chance after hearing the tearful words from the younger girl, Aaron stopped the car in the middle of the road and immediately turned around.

Emily frowned, turning around to see them heading away from her house than toward it. "What are you doing?"

"I think we should go on our hang out now," he nodded. "Something that'll make us both feel better." He barely knew the girl and he was willing to give up his 'A' average and skip his homework so he could hang out with her.

Something he never did for Haley.

Emily's thumbnail found its way in between her teeth as she smiled, nodding along with the idea. "Yeah, ok." She'd give anything to stay away from her house, and being with the older boy, the one who made her heart flutter, was the best idea she'd heard in a while.


	5. Chapter 5

She took his hand, letting the older boy help her out of the truck once they were parked off a bank near the town's river. "So what are we doing here?"

Thankful that the younger girl didn't let go of his hand once the truck was locked, Aaron smiled down to her. "I come here a lot when there's too much on my mind or my family is suffocating me," he spoke quietly. "It's very peaceful here. I thought you'd like it."

Emily bit back her smile when she felt his hand tighten around hers.

He led her down a rocky path, helping her around a few graveled and uneven edges before standing just beside the calm water. "Do you want to sit?"

"Sure," she nodded, walking with Aaron a few more feet to their right to sit side by side on a large rock that dangled over the clear river water. "How'd you find this place?"

Aaron's chestnut eyes gazed out to the shedding trees on the other side of the stream. "After my mom died, I would go on walks around town just to be away from the house. I followed a stray dog down here once, it's about twenty minutes from my street, and I just played with him in the water for hours."

Emily watched his stare sadden as his story continued. "How did she die?" Even though she wanted to understand him further, the fifteen year old knew she had to choose her words carefully.

"Cancer." The once bitter word no longer gave the football player a sick feeling in his stomach. "It happened pretty slowly which definitely wasn't ideal, but it gave her time to say goodbye to everybody."

The brunette studied the softening features in the older boy's face. "I'm sorry."

Aaron just shook his head.

"My dad's mom died of cancer," Emily spoke quietly, as if she were telling the story to a napping baby boy. "It was from all her smoking she'd done, but even on her last day she was smiling. She never let anything defeat her."

Grinning down to the beautiful girl, the sixteen year old ran his thumb across her knuckles. "Must be nice to know that her spirit lives on in you."

Emily exploded in laughter, her body jolted forward and almost falling into the water before he reached out to catch her. "Yeah right," she snorted, slapping him playfully against the chest. "I was breaking down in your car like ten minutes ago."

"That doesn't mean you're not strong," Aaron frowned.

Just then the fifteen year old felt his arms tighten around her figure, registering for the first time that the older boy having her completely wrapped up in his hold. "Thank you," her whisper shyly stated, her hands on his arms to give herself some leverage. Quickly averting her eyes from his, Emily glanced down to the water and tried for a smile. "Look, the fish are coming up to us."

Aaron moved his eyes to where Emily's were directed and noticed the fish and tadpole in the river all circling around the tip of her shoe that had dipped into the river. "Hope your shoe is protected," he laughed.

The brown eyed girl smirked up to the older boy. "Girls don't buy leather boots without protectant spray," the fifteen year old snickered, sticking her tongue out to the football player.

"Oh well then, I obviously don't know much about girls."

Emily played it as if she were deep in thought, subconsciously leaning back against him when she turned to look out over the water. "We should test your skills."

The football player's eyes widened.

"If you were going on a first date, what would you bring her and where would you take her?"

There was so much and so little he could say, and answering incorrectly to the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes on could easily kill him, making his chances very slim of ever getting to go on a date with her. "Well, it would all depend on the girl I had asked out or who asked me out," he said as slowly as he could, making sure to sound as certain as he could, his voice never trembling. "I could get her flowers and take her to dinner, or maybe give her chocolates or jewelry and take her to the movies."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Original."

"Well if it's a special girl then obviously I'd do something completely out of the box," he grinned against her hair. "Takes the most amazing type of person, you know? One of those that you'd be lucky enough to meet in a lifetime."

The brunette girl's breath caught in her throat when she heard his voice rumble in his chest, vibrating against her back. And when she felt his chin set atop her head, she knew the football player was talking about her.


	6. Chapter 6

They had sat beside the river until seven-fourteen that night, only leaving once Emily pulled her phone from her back pocket to see the time and check for any messages she may have missed.

Once he had driver her home, the fifteen year old gained a verbal beating from her mother, having missed the dinner they were supposed to have had with the governor.

A dinner Emily was never told about beforehand.

She had just rolled her eyes after standing there for a twenty minute lecture and made her way up to her room. She had checked her phone and found that her mother never even tried to reach her. So how exactly was it her fault that she missed the dinner?

Picking up her phone once she laid in her bed, snuggled under the covers with the lights turned off and a sad movie set on mute, Emily frowned. "Hello?"

"I saw you leave with that cutie!"

Emily let out a bark of a laugh at the excited voice that flowed through her phone. "Hi Pen," she smirked.

The blond on the other end let her jaw drop. "So you have nothing to say?"

"Not really," she shrugged, lying back against her pillow. "We just talked the entire time, really. He took me down to the river and we just sat on this huge rock. It was nice."

"Did you kiss him?"

Emily's eyes widened at the accusation. "No! Why would I do that?"

Penelope took her phone from her ear and glared at the plastic as if it were her friend's face. "Because he's the most beautiful thing to ever live," she growled. "And because you haven't had anyone since Johnny during the summer, so Aaron is the next one on your list!"

The brunette found herself burrowing deeper into the warmth of her blankets. "Can we not talk about that please?" Losing her virginity to a guy she was with for only two months was something she didn't want to revisit.

"How was he, anyway?"

Emily laughed. "Fast," the chortled word came out, her hand coming up to cover her gaping mouth. "And way too jerky."

The blonde's eyes shot open at the comment. "No way."

"Totally," the fifteen year old nodded generously. "But anyway, don't bring up Aaron again. It's not like anything is going to happen between us."

"Whatever."

Emily grinned. "Don't sound upset."

The younger girl shook her head, typing the end of the essay that she was supposed to have had done the day before. "So how was that dinner?"

"Excuse me? You knew about my dinner?"

Penelope frowned at the tone. "Your mom called me and asked if I was with you. When I said no, she went on a rant and then she hung up. I thought she was going to just text you after or something. Did she forget about you again?"

Emily immediately hung up her phone, rolling onto her stomach and screaming into her pillow.

Aaron seemed to be the only thing good about her day.


	7. Chapter 7

Quickly scribbling her name down at the top of her paper, Emily glanced up to the board in the front of the room. It had been a few days since her sort-of-a-date date with Aaron, and she was trying her best to keep her mind on her work.

They had seen each other in the hallway every day they'd been in school since then, she was pretty sure Aaron had done his best to make that happen, and every time the younger teen saw the football player, his smile seemed to grow wider.

But she had missed a few homeworks and had spaced out during some of her classes. Her mind was always on Aaron and she knew she needed to fix that.

"Hey."

Looking up, Emily's head whipped around and eyes widened when she heard the familiar voice. "Hi," she stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Aaron shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want to wait until the end of the year to be in health so I switched into it now. I don't want to have to stay in extra classes for the last of the year."

The fifteen year old tried for a smile, seeing how happy the older boy was to be sitting next to her.

"So what are we learning?"

Emily cleared her throat, gesturing up to the chalkboard where the teacher had stopped writing. "Reproduction and safe sex."

The teacher, looking to the class from her spot in front of the white board, caught the chatting couple in her view. "New boy, what's your name?"

Aaron put a small hand. "Aaron Hotchner."

"Oh, our star quarterback. Why don't you and Ms. Prentiss come up and be part of our little presentation?" Sensing heir hesitation, the British woman clapped her hands. "Come on now."

Emily, keeping her eyes off of her mew friend, gulped and walked up to the front of the classroom.

"As I was saying, when a couple, heterosexual or not, is to have sex, there can be consequences. There are multiple diseases, some treatable and some not, and there is also pregnancy." She set a hand to Emily's shoulder. "Ms. Prentiss, can you explain how one is to become pregnant?"

The fifteen year old tried her best to ignore the snickers from around the rom. "The egg gets fertilized by the sperm, and it takes nine months to full develop."

"Into," the British woman smiled, taking a doll from behind her back and placing it into the high schooler's arms, "a baby. This little baby is the best example of the consequences associated with unsafe sex, and sometimes even instances when contraception is used. This is our new project."

Aaron looked up to the woman who stood just behind him and his new friend. "We're supposed to be parents?"

Emily's eyes widened.

"Well since you two were getting acquainted during my teaching, you two are now teen parents together. You are to take this baby everywhere, even to your classes in school, and I have gotten every parent I have spoken to so far to permit the pairings in sleeping at one another's houses so you are always near the baby." She glanced down to the ambassador's daughter. "What is the name of your baby boy?"

The brown eyed girl looked down at the smiling plastic toy in her arm, patting it on the back when it started to cry. "Michael?"

The teacher's smile widened. "Everyone, meet baby Michael Prentiss-Hotchner."

Two hours later, Emily sat glaring at her friend across the lunchroom table. "Quit it."

Penelope felt an elbow to her side before her jaw finally snapped shut, her head shaking. "So Aaron's your baby daddy?" she whispered.

Derek laughed, seeing Emily roll her eyes from the other side of the table. "They didn't really have a kid, baby girl."

The blond shook her head. "It's like they did! They have to stay together all day with the baby and change the diaper and sleep over each other's houses and everything!" Penelope looked over to her friend, her smile shining toward the scowling girl who stared at her. "It's like you're married!"

"Well," Aaron huffed as he sat himself down beside the brunette girl, looking to the others at the table, "before we get married next time, maybe tell me?" He made eyes contact with the fifteen year old and winked. "I'd let to get you a ring first."

Emily stuck her tongue out at the older boy. "Funny."

Looking over her shoulder, the football player's face morphed into a frown. "What are you doing with the baby?"

Emily looked to the plastic toy that she and her friend had been given and shrugged her shoulders. "He's taking a nap," she said reasonably, giving the older boy a grin before digging back into her salad.

Aaron laughed. "You can't just lay him on your jacket and say he's napping."

Rolling her eyes, the ambassador's daughter took the baby and shoved it into Aaron's arms. "Fine," she snorted, turning away from him. "He can spend time with his daddy."

Derek and Penelope sat across from the fake couple and tried to conceal their grins.

The football player cradled the doll against his chest. "Why does he have to be with me?"

"I've had him for three periods now," Emily scoffed. "Why can't you watch him now?"

"It's not that I don't want to watch him, I was just asking." Sensing the girl's discomfort, Aaron shook his head. "Well I was talking to my dad, he thinks I should go to your house tonight. He's not going to be home and my brother will be out at a friend's, so he wasn't comfortable with the idea with us being there alone."

Emily shook her head, pointing to the baby. "We wouldn't be there alone."

The football player shared a smirk with the younger girl. "Nice try, smartass. So is that ok?"

"It should be fine," she shrugged. "After an angry phone call from my mom when she got Mrs. Triblen's email, and a hesitant acceptance from my dad, we're all set." She turned away from him once more and stuffed her mouth with lettuce, her heart beating so loudly she was sure her eardrums would bleed.

They had to stay in the same home, same room.

She was screwed.


	8. Chapter 8

"That's not how you do it," the fifteen year old laughed, watching as Aaron tried to put the diaper on their crying baby after he had messed the other one. "It's backwards."

Aaron looked at the cloth. "How can you tell?"

Taking the diaper from the older boy, Emily moved the baby to the pillow in front of her and strapped it onto him. "See?" She lifted him up in her arms and pat the plastic toy on the back to soothe him. "He'll stop crying, just give it a few minutes," the brunette smiled.

The football player rolled his eyes, falling down onto his friend's comfortable bed. "This is ridiculous."

"Hey, you transferred into the class and this is what you get," Emily snorted, handing the baby back to the older boy. "A son."

Aaron glared playfully up to the beautiful girl and watched as she took her hair from her ponytail and let it fall around her shoulders. He had been watching her every moment since they'd been at her home, and every little move she made or word she spoke had him melting.

She was eternally beautiful.

She looked up from her bed, sensing the older boy's eyes on her, and felt herself blush when she saw his gaze darkening on her. "What?"

Aaron gave a shake of the head. "How do you know so much about babies?"

"I'm a girl," she shrugged, lying back against her pillows in their expensive cotton pillows and watching as he held their baby against his chest. "Some sort of maternal instinct or something. But just because I know about changing a diaper doesn't mean I'm automatically a mom."

The football player practically shoved Michael into his fake co-parent's face. "Don't lie," he laughed, putting the plastic into his friend's arms.

Emily watched as he laid beside her in the queen sized bed, her heartbeat picking up speed when he stretched and his shirt rose up a small amount and showed off the 'v' that led to down into his jeans. "Right."

Aaron let himself frown at the flushed look on Emily's face. "You ok?"

Shaking her head, the brunette girl sat up against the pillows and rocked her baby gently in her arms. "Yeah, no I'm good," she chuckled, making eye contact with the older boy to make sure he knew she was comfortable. "Just kind of hungry."

"Yeah, we never actually ate dinner," the football player groaned. "You want something?"

Emily's lips pursed as she shook her head. "No, we should get to bed soon anyway. It's almost ten and I have no idea when this baby is gonna wake up again."

"That's true. You mind if I take the couch?" he asked, looking to the leather loveseat over near the large windows of the ambassador's daughter's bedroom.

Emily felt her chest constrict as he got up off of her bed and she scrambled to sit up, watching the brunette boy lift his shirt so he could change to get ready for bed. "That's fine." Licking her bottom lip as she watched the muscles in his back move, her wide eyes looked down to the baby in her arms. "Let's go to bed, Michael."


	9. Chapter 9

Hearing a blaring cry echo throughout her bedroom, Emily jolted up from her bed, her heart racing at the screaming sounds in her ear. "Oh my God," she breathed, looking down to the doll that had been laying on the pillow beside her head.

Aaron put a hand to his chest as he sat up on the couch. "Is he ok?"

"I don't know," the fifteen year old said, her eyes blurry from sleep as she moved to the middle of her bed and took the baby in her arms. "Get me a new diaper?"

The older teen rubbed his eyes, getting up from his makeshift bed and walking over to where they had stored the diapers before they went to bed just a few hours before.

Emily gave a hasty nod of the head before ripping the diaper from the football player's hands, never noticing his half naked body sitting beside her as she looked down the doll's diaper. "Stop crying," she growled gently, taking the cloth from the plastic toy and quickly putting on the dry one.

Aaron's eyes softened on the younger girl, watching her rock the baby against her and pat at his back to get him to stop crying. "Do you want me to take him?"

"I just want him to stop crying."

Taking the baby from the beautiful brunette at his side, Aaron set a hand to Emily's shoulder. "Calm down, ok? He'll quiet down in a few minutes, we just need to give it a little time."

Emily groaned, her hands running down her tired face. "Do you see what time it is? And this is the second time he's woken up already."

"Emily just go back to bed, ok? I can put him back to sleep for you."

She heard the compassion and heart in the older boy's voice, and Emily immediately felt tears enter her eyes. "No it's fine, I'll stay up with you," she sniffled. "I just haven't ever done something on such little sleep. It's barely been two hours, do you see that?"

Aaron smiled, moving closer to the brunette girl and wrapping a free arm around her shoulders. "You're just fine. Calm yourself down, take a deep breath and go back to bed." He showed her the already quieting baby and tried to get her to smile. "See? He's already doing better."

"Than me," she snorted, letting his arm wrap around her and his hand begin to caress her shoulder. She lied her head back, taking in a deep breath as she stared up at the ceiling. "Thank you, Aaron. If I had to do this by myself, I'd go absolutely crazy."

He cautiously set his chin atop the ambassador's daughter's head and smiled, noticing for the first time that she had kept her hair down for bed. He had never seen her like that: unkempt, but just barely so. "You're stronger than you let yourself believe."

Emily pursed her lips, holding air between her cheeks before letting it out in a huff. "You're ridiculous," she scoffed, wiggling out of his hold as gently as she could, as not to upset him by making him think that she didn't enjoy what he was doing. "Is there ever going to be a moment that you don't turn into a scene for the Hallmark channel?"

The football player gasped, setting a hand to his chest. "You watch that too?"

A laugh escaped the fifteen year old at the smirk she saw grow on his face, her dark eyes squinting as her face coiled up into a smile.

Aaron's eyes captured the beautiful face of the privileged girl, taking in the way her washed face sparkled in the moonlight that floated through the windows and how her laugh rung through his ears like a one hundred person symphony. He set the baby doll down on the bed and moved only an inch closer to the younger girl, letting his hand reach up and set a dark lock of hair behind her ear.

"Aaron?" she whispered, seeing the darkening look in the older boy's eyes.

"Can I kiss you?"

Emily could almost feel her heart stop in her chest, her eyes barely able to see Aaron's in the moonlit bedroom. Hearing the rumble in his voice made the hairs on her arms and neck stand up, and she had the immediate urge to smile. "Yes."

He barely bent down when Michael made a cooing sound, and Aaron's sleepy eyes watched the younger girl wave at the toy.

"Not now Michael, mommy's busy," she whispered, her hand cupping the football player's slightly stubbled cheek and letting him kiss her lips.


	10. Chapter 10

Penelope's wide blue eyes stared at her grinning friend, watching as she burped the baby she and Aaron had been given for their project the week prior. "You did not," she breathed, knowing that her friend wouldn't do what she said she had without calling her straight after.

"Yup," Emily laughed, peeking down to make sure the doll didn't throw up on the washcloth she had taken from her home. "At about one in the morning."

"You kissed him?"

The brunette girl pursed her lips, slowly giving a shake of her head. "I think he kissed me first," she mused.

Penelope reached over the table and pushed her shoulder. "You and the most gorgeous boy in our school, other than the fabulous Derek Morgan, kissed and I didn't even know about it? Why didn't you call me?"

Emily laughed at the look on her friend's face, and she changed the position of her now cooing baby to be cradled against her chest without noticing Michael's father walking up behind her. "It was in the middle of the night, Pen."

"So?"

Aaron sat himself down beside the brunette girl he was falling for and shared a smile. "Is she wondering why we kissed and didn't tell her?"

"She is, actually," the fifteen year old giggled, letting him take her hand underneath the table. She didn't know what they were right now, boyfriend and girlfriend or just fooling around, but she wasn't ready to question it.

Penelope's hair flew as she shook her head, glancing to the boy who sat himself next to her on the bench before glaring at the brunette across from her. "I just don't get it."

"It was late, you would have been mad at me for waking you up."

"Untrue!" the blond screeched.

Emily watched as the younger girl stood from their lunch table and quickly walked off, her colorful dress swaying behind her. "Where are you going?"

Derek held up a hand, standing up to follow the girl he had had a crush on since the first grade. "I've got her, don't worry."

"Dramatic," the fifteen year old snorted, letting the boy beside her take the baby from her arms and setting him against his chest. "So how was Psych?" she questioned, loving the smile he was sending her.

Aaron squeezed her hand underneath the table. "Just fine. How was gym?"

The brown eyed girl scoffed at the question, gesturing to the baby her friend held against his chest, right where his heart stay beating. "With him crying every minute?" she smirked. "Let's just say Coach Reni wants to kill our health teacher."

Taking a chance after glancing into those enchanting midnight eyes, Aaron bent down to steal a kiss from her pink lips. "Hi," came the whispered word, a grin on Aaron's lips.

"Hi," she giggled. "So did you enjoy our teaching today in health class?"

"Oh yeah. Discussing your past partners with your new boyfriend or girlfriend before 'getting it on'?" Aaron rolled his eyes. "Why even teach us that? She thinks we don't know that that's the first thing on our list?"

Emily felt herself grinning at the sarcasm that came from the older boy. "Exactly, that's the first thing I think of."

He watched as she took a bite from the hamburger she had gotten from the cafeteria, and his hand somewhat tightened around hers as his curiosity got the best of him. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" she frowned.

The football player looked to the baby in his arms as he shrugged, not wanting to make it such a big deal. "Anyone before me?"

Emily's brows shot up. "Before you? We haven't had sex, Aaron."

"No no, I know that. I was just wondering."

Feeling herself grow nervous under the older boy's gaze, Emily gave a shrug and moved her eyes from his to Michael. "No," she lied quietly, going back to take another bite of her burger. "No one else."

From her seat only a few feet away, the scorned ex of the star quarterback smiled when she heard the lie fly from Emily's lips. She would make sure that Aaron knew the truth, and all she had to do was find out who the boy was that Emily had lost it to.


	11. Chapter 11

The pair had been sitting side by side every chance they got to throughout the week, Aaron holding onto the beautiful girl's hand and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles to send shivers through her body.

He had kissed her at least seven more times when he thought no one was looking, but one time when Emily pulled out of it, she caught a few cheerleaders looking their way with scowls directed solely at her.

It made her feel visible.

She was never necessarily liked by girls in her schools because she was both pretty and smart, getting every boy's attention and causing the other teens to hate on her. But now she had friends, and she had this great guy who she was getting to know and sleeping so close to at night.

And they shared a baby, which really increased her chances of finally getting him to ask her to be his girlfriend.

Sitting up on the steps she had found a seat on in the front of the school, she fixed the shirt she had dressed her baby in that morning. She was waiting for Aaron so they could drive to her house, and instead of beginning the mound of homework she had been given, the brunette teen decided to continue nursing her cooing son.

"You were such a good boy for mommy today," she smiled as she sat the plastic toy down on her lap. "Barely cried and ate all your food," the brown eyed girl cooed. "Only needed to be changed twice."

Michael made a sound.

The ivory teen's face lit up at the little laugh that came from the baby and grinned. "And you got me out of my math test." Michael had spit up on her sweatshirt only five minutes into the period and she had been forced to go and change in the locker room on the other side of the school.

Looking up at the sound of a backpack rustling behind her, the brunette girl looked up from the toy in her hands and grinned up to the older boy there. "Hey."

Aaron nodded.

She noted the somber look gracing Aaron's face and frowned. "Are you ok?" she questioned, letting him take the baby from her lap.

The football player handed the younger teen a note and kept his focus on the baby, not wanting to chance a look at the ambassador's daughter.

"Is everything ok?" Emily uncrumpled the piece of loose leaf paper and let her eyes scan the handwriting.

_Overheard you and the rich chick talking about your past sexual encounters, and I know for a fact that she lied. That guy John that moved away over the summer? They hooked up four or five times and ended up having sex in one of her limos. Careful who you get with, Aaron._

Emily could feel the tears immediately coming in to sting her eyes, her heart stopping when she processed what she was reading. Who would be evil enough to take her past and use it against her like this?

She glanced over to the boy at her side and watched as he played with their baby's still hands. "Aaron."

"I'm not mad," he shrugged, his voice quiet as if he were putting Michael to sleep. "I don't really have a right to be, we're not together or anything."

That stung. They had kissed and had cuddled together just the night before while watching a movie in her theater room, and he didn't consider them to be anything?

Aaron finally looked up and locked his eyes with the younger girl's. "I just want to know why you lied. You could have just said you didn't want to talk about it, but I don't like lying."

"Aaron I'm sorry," the brunette breathed, her fingers so tight around the papers edges that she was sure it would rip in her hold, "but I don't like to talk about it. Me and Johnny wasn't a good experience, and I wanted to forget about it."

The football player gave a small nod of the head to let her know he was listening.

Emily bit down into her bottom lip, the tears slowly making their way down her pale cheeks. "You said it yourself, we're not together. It's not that I didn't want to tell you, but why would I share something with you that's so personal? We're not close enough for stuff like that yet."

Aaron's forehead wrinkled as his brow furrowed, and he looked seriously to the beautiful girl he found himself wanting to know more about. "Well we could be."

"What?"

Nodding his head to the brunette, the older boy chuckled. "Go on a date with me," he grinned, reaching out and taking one of Emily's soft hands in his. "I get it, we're not close yet. But I want to be."

Emily's wide eyes stared in shock at the quarterback. "You want to go on a date with me?"

He leaned in after hearing the breath leave the ambassador's daughter's lungs and brought their lips together, keeping them locked for longer than they ever had been before, his other hand coming up to cup her now rosy cheek. "Emily Prentiss, will you please come on a date with me tonight?"

Haley had smoke coming from her ears as she stood in front of the school's entrance, watching as the pair stood from where they had been sitting. She had worked so hard to try and break them apart and it had failed.

Straightening her shoulders, her blue eyes hardened on the retreating couple. She had to do better.


End file.
